What in the world have I gotten myself into???

So, some of y'all know that I'm back in college, after a hiatus of fifteen years.  And it's pretty cool so far, even though Heather says it's weird to hear me talking about having homework...lol  And I'm enjoying my classes, and feeling like I'm learning something, so that's all good.

But I'm having a hard time staying focused (the lure of the internet is strong! lol), and it's not always easy keeping up with the homework assignments.  And it's only the third week of classes!!  And I keep thinking that I should be working, too...but then I think, "But when would I do my homework?  And when would I sleep?  Or do laundry?  Or clean?"  And I think to myself that I haven't written papers in years, and things have changed.  After all, I'd never even heard of APA or MLA formats until recently!  How in the world can I possibly do this?

And the only answer I can come up with is, "Because I need to.  I need to do something with my life so that if I'm working in retail when I'm 65, it's because I want to, not because I have to."  And I love to read, and finding mistakes in what I'm reading drives me absolutely bonkers, so being an editor actually makes sense.  I just hope no one ever wants me to write anything meaningful, because I'm not that great a writer myself.  I can edit wonderfully, but being eloquent on paper?  (Or, y'know, on a computer screen...) Not so much.

I hope that I can do well in school, and that I'll be able to keep up with my classes.  I suppose a good start would be getting off of here, and getting back to my World Lit essay... ;-)

Talk to y'all later!

Camping photodump!

Okay, so I know I'm a day or two late, but at least I'm not months late this time! ;-)  These are some of my favorite photos from my trip to the mountains.  (In no particular order.)

I just can't get over how much bluer the sky is there than here.  I love it!

I had a lot of fun playing with the black and white setting on the camera.  :)

Isabel enjoyed making s'mores for the first time!

We saw this momma sage grouse several times, and she always acted like she owned the road! lol

We had an elephant stampede through our camp...

and we were stalked by a panther!

Back from a trip to the creek for some water.

Tex spent a lot of time laying in the sun.  I sometimes think he's part cat! lol

Dave made a peach cobbler--it was yummy!!

Daniel and Isabel.  Love this photo of them!

This was taken between storms one day.  It had rained for an hour or so, and stopped just before sunset, so these clouds had an amazing pink glow.  After the sun had gone completely and the clouds went back to gray, it started raining again--and rained most of the night.

 

Wild roses.

 

I don't know what these are, but they're all over the place!

 

  

Phoebe came camping with us, and spent a lot of time hanging around various areas of the trailer. :-)

 

We visited our waterfall again this year.  The haze effect was caused by all the spray hitting the camera lens.

 

Okay, I think that's probably enough for today.  I'll save some for another day when I don't have very much to say. ;-)

Home from the mountains...

I got to go camping this year, for nearly two weeks!  (Nearly missed out entirely last year--I think I only got a couple of weekends, and that's never nearly enough time!)  The weather was beautiful, and I hiked up to the waterfall again (hard to believe it was two years ago that I went there the first time!)--Heather was with me again, and this time Kaila and my niece Angela came along.  Heather and Angela had a great time playing on the rocks near the fall, and I managed to get drenched by the spray from it--which felt fantastic after hiking in the sun! lol

We saw some momma sage grouse with babies a few times--it was really fun to watch the moms slowly step out to the road, watching for traffic, and then watching the babies start dashing out around her.  They'd start crossing, and the mom would take her time, making sure they got across safely.  Most of the time, people driving on the road would stop and wait for them, but yesterday we found one grouse that had been hit.  :(  I went and looked around the area for babies, but didn't find any, so either they were being VERY quiet, or the dead one was a male or a female without babies.  (I'm kind of hoping for either of the latter, actually.)

Heather and I spent some time playing in the water, but I guess I've gotten to be kind of chicken lately, because the water is just too cold for me to go in past my waist, and even that's pushing it! lol  Heather, on the other hand, must be part trout, because she has no problem getting soaked from head to tailfin...er, toe, rather. ;-)

I truly think that I enjoy camping so much because I can get away from so much of the stress and drama of everyday life.  I go to the mountains, and the only things I really have to worry about are making sure there's firewood and water.  Dave does most of the cooking, I try to keep camp looking semi-neat at least, and the rest of the time, I just relax and enjoy the sounds of the forest.  The creek is a constant rush in the background, and there are always birds (grouse, robins, meadowlarks, and sandhill cranes--this year was the first time we've ever seen those!), squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, deer, and even the occasional bear.  Sunrises and sunsets are always beautiful, and at night the sky is alive with more stars than I ever see at home.  It's just amazing to see!

Okay, enough about camping (for now, anyway--I still have pictures to share! lol)--I have other good news!  I got my financial aid approved for school!  Huzzah!  So, since I'm registered already, I think all I have to do now is find out which books I need so that I can start looking for them on sale somewhere.  I've never figured out why college textbooks are so ridiculously expensive!

School starts September 8--that's just under two months away!  I can't believe I'm going back to school after so long.  I'm excited and nervous all at the same time.  Part of getting the financial aid was the condition that I pass all of my classes, and get my GPA up to at least a C average.  I know I can do that, but I'm nervous all the same.  I hope that an English major isn't a stupid way to go, or that editing isn't a stupid profession to go into.  I worry too much, I'm sure...lol

Okay, I think that's about enough of my rambling.  I'll do a photo post tomorrow after I've downloaded the pictures from the camera.  :-)

New baby!!

On Mother's Day, Rachele started having contractions, which were about a month early. But the doctors thought they might have miscalculated her due date, so they weren't too worried about it. When Rachele went in to be checked out, though, the nurses said that yes, she was in labor, just not enough in labor. So for the last 19 or 20 days, Rachele has been having contractions, and anytime they were really bad, she'd go in to the hospital, only to have the nurses scoff and tell her she was having "stomach cramps"...as if she'd never had a kid before and didn't know what contractions felt like. Sheesh.

Anyhow, last night the contractions were really strong, so Rachele and Tree went yet again to the hospital, and this time they admitted her! Things progressed very quickly, and at about 3:12 a.m. today, Bran Cormack Pambrun was born. Rachele and Tree plan to call him Cormack, though Dave and I really like Bran. I have a feeling the poor kid is going to be confused about his name for a while...lol

And, just in case you haven't gotten tired of seeing his picture on Facebook, I'll share a few here. :-) (Sorry, they're not in chronological order...oh, well. :-) )

Iris was very disappointed that Bran was a boy. She very badly wanted to have a little sister. But she still wanted to hold the baby, and seemed to warm up to him pretty well. :)

This is when Bran was just a few minutes old--he still had the baby goop on him! One thing I noticed today is that he's got really long fingers and toes--he's gonna be a little monkey for sure! :-)

Here's Rachele and Bran just after he was born. She looks pretty tired, but she's so happy he's finally here!

Tree sure is a proud daddy. :-)

Bran being weighed. He's just over 7 pounds, and definitely a boy! Not real happy about being on the scale, though...lol

Here's Aidan with Bran--proud big brother!

 I don't care what people say, that looks like a smile to me!

This is Daniel with Bran. He thought he was going to break the baby...lol I've never figured out why guys always think that.

Okay, I think that's enough for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get more pictures of him soon and get them posted. Talk to y'all soon!

Hmm, isn't this where I'm supposed to write stuff?

So....yeah, that whole "updating more often" thing kinda didn't work so well, did it? *sigh* But I'm back, and ready to give it another shot!

I have started paying the school back and now only owe them $89, and I'm registered for classes this fall! I'll be taking World Literature Survey, College Writing II, Intro To Public Speaking, and American History I. Next spring, I'm planning on taking Astronomy for one of my sciences. I'm not sure what else I want to take, for sure, but since I'm going to be working toward an English degree (so I can hopefully go into editing), I'll be taking a LOT of English classes over the next couple of years. I've also applied for financial aid, and so far it looks like I'll be eligible for enough grants to cover my tuition and books--I just have to wait to find out if it's been approved for sure.

Still working with the Census. I'm a crew leader for the Non-Response Follow Up operation, which means my crew visits households that didn't mail their census questionnaires back, or else didn't send them back on time. So far, most people have been very cooperative, which is a pleasant surprise! This operation is scheduled to end in mid-July--at least, as far as I know for now, but it could change at any time. I don't know if they'll keep me on afterward, but if not, I'll probably go to the temp agency I worked for last summer, and see if they've got anything for me. Hopefully by that time, Dave will be working from home, and I won't have to stress about working very much while I'm going to school.

Speaking of Dave, he goes in for surgery next Thursday. His right hand has been giving him some problems for a few months, and has gotten progressively worse. It's numb on the outer side, and he can't spread the fingers apart. He's got very little strength in his fingers, and has lost muscle mass in the area between his thumb and forefinger. He went in for some X-rays, and apparently his ulnar nerve is impinged. So when he goes in next week, they're going to shift that nerve out from behind the elbow and use the tissue in his arm to create a sort of pocket to hold the nerve in place, and they're going to do the same thing in his wrist. It's an outpatient surgery, so he'll be coming home the same day, but will have a brace on his arm for about a week or so. After that comes off, he'll have physical therapy for a few weeks to strengthen his hand. Meanwhile, I brought home a stress ball yesterday so that he can start working that hand and try to regain at least some of that lost muscle mass.

Our son Daniel is apparently engaged....again. It's funny--his one year anniversary would have been next Friday. I haven't heard much about this girl. I know her name, what her job is, that she has 2 kids, and that Dave knows her parents from his folks' church. Daniel has been dating her for a whopping three weeks, and just moved in with her yesterday. I found out today (not from him, but by poking around her page a bit, since I could see that he'd commented there) that the wedding is July 31st. I don't plan to say anything to him, because I figure it's his job to tell me, if he even wants me to know. I don't think I can congratulate him, though. I think he's moving way too quickly. They don't even know each other. She doesn't know anything about him, except the act that he puts on while he's first dating someone. The thing is, he can be kind of a jerk at times, and he's very impatient. And he hasn't figured out that when a girl says "I don't want to talk about it right now," she really doesn't. He doesn't know how to allow a girl the space she needs to be able to think about things.

Ugh. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I just wish he would take his time so the two of them could get to know each other. I really do want him to be happy, but I'm afraid he'll end up hurting another young lady, her kids, and his own daughter.

I've been finding recipes on this recipe site, and have found some pretty tasty ones. I want to make something like these chicken wings, but I'd rather use the sauce on something with more meat to it! lol

Oh--I finally got my birth certificate, so as soon as we get the money back together, we're going to apply for our passports!!!! Just one step closer to our trip to Scotland! :-)

Also, Rachele is apparently further along in her pregnancy than we thought--Tree called me today to say that she could be having her baby anytime in the next few days! Looks like I'll have to go pick up some more yarn on payday this week so I can make a blanket for her. We still don't know what she's having, so her blanket will probably be in purples, blues, and white.

I think I've gotten everyone caught up on what's been going on around here, so I'll go for now. I think I'm going to just have to make a point of posting at least something on here every week. Happy Mother's Day to all of my mom friends!

New Year's Resolutions...

First and foremost, I resolve to update this blog a little more often! Sheesh...October, I posted last? (I would say I've been busy, but that's only partly true. Mostly it's that I didn't think I had anything worthwhile to say.)

I resolve to lose at least 20 pounds--I'll be doing a workout video, walking every day (hopefully, anyhow), drinking more water and making sure I eat healthy foods.

I still owe a little bit of money to one of the colleges here, so I resolve to get that paid off, and look into getting a degree--probably in business, possibly business management or human resources.

Last but not least, I resolve to get any handmade Christmas presents done and mailed in PLENTY of time for Christmas! lol (One of these years, it'll happen, I swear! ;-) )

Photo dump next time, honest!! G'night for now, y'all. *hugs*

Smelling the flowers...

So, I noticed something today--my youngest daughter, Heather, made a cute little foam flowerpot in church this morning. And after showing it to me, she promptly smelled it, even though it couldn't possibly smell like a flower. And I realized that, no matter where she is, or what she's doing, she has to smell every flower, whether it's real or not. It's kind of cute, and a good reminder to me to slow down a bit, and use my imagination a bit more! :-)

As far as how everything else is going since my last post...

My son Daniel is going through a divorce, after being married for about 3 months. Unfortunately, they had issues that they just couldn't get past. It's really incredibly sad to me, because up until the time they got married, they seemed very happy together.

I went back to work for a while at the Census, first as a clerk, then as an enumerator (this time locating various types of group quarters--convents, prisons, group homes, etc.), and then as a clerk again, checking in all the work that the enumerators had done. They're out of work again at the office, though, until close to the end of November. Since I just can't wait that long to be working again, I'm looking for other places to apply at, one of them being the DMV (department of motor vehicles, just in case anyone reading this doesn't know what DMV stands for), and one being at a check-cashing place.

Dave is working on being able to work from home, which would be awesome--he has been so frustrated with not being able to work. It has made him feel pretty useless, which I can completely understand. I'd love to be able to work from home, but that's not going to happen for a while.

My oldest daughter, Rachele, found out recently that she's pregnant, and possibly with twins. Every so often, I think I would like to have another kid...and then realize that, no, really, I'm good with having grandkids! lol Seriously, though, I hope Rachele has a safe pregnancy, without all the complications that she's had the last couple of times.

Last night, Iris (Rachele's 3 year old daugher) woke up from a nap that she'd taken on my bed, and said to Rachele, rather indignantly, "Mommy, someone peed in my pants!" Rachele came out of the room laughing, and told us about it, so when Iris came out, I asked her, "Iris, who peed in your pants?" She then informed me that the fish did it! Evidently, she'd had a dream about the fish that she'd seen at the Chinese restaurant where we had lunch yesterday. lol

Oh, and today, I learned how people make fancy marbles. :-)
Later tonight, I'm going to do a photo post--I'll possibly have pictures of Daniel's wedding (because, well, I want to share some of them), some of me that I took (because I was bored and someone let me play with the camera), and some others that I just want to share. So there. :-)